CLOSING a south Reading school for disabled children would mean a third of current pupils would have to transfer - despite assurances that would not happen, its acting headteacher has declared.

CLOSING a south Reading school for disabled children would mean a third of current pupils would have to transfer - despite assurances that would not happen, its acting headteacher has declared.

Peter Sparks of The Avenue School in Basingstoke Road, lambasted Reading Borough Council for claiming that

all current pupils would be able to complete their education there even if it shuts in 2006.

"In actual fact, as the local education authority and councillors now know, if this school closed in 2006, 63 of our current pupils in Years Seven, aged 12 and under, 46 of whom are Reading children, would need to transfer," he said.

Council leader Dave Sutton yesterday admitted it would be hard to predict who would be affected and in what ways if the school was to close in 2006.

He pledged to extend the timescale beyond 2006 if the consultation revealed that was necessary.

The 101-year-old school currently caters for about 150 pupils aged from two to 19 with physical and mental disabilities.

Mr Sparks took over as acting headteacher this term. He was speaking following Monday's controversial cabinet meeting when the borough's top councillors gave officers the go-ahead to look at replacing the school with units attached to mainstream schools and specialist centres.

"A number of them see the proposed units, whether attached to mainstream schools or stand-alone specialist units, not so much as inclusion but exclusion and segregation.

"This is indeed a very difficult time for various groups of people connected with the school."

The council was legally obliged to review its provision for children with special educational needs and there was increasing emphasis on inclusion in mainstream schools, he added.

"The LEA would see their duty as providing education in a mainstream school wherever possible to do so, unless it is against parents' wishes or is incompatible with the efficient

education of other pupils," said Mr Sparks, warning that duty was open to interpretation.

He continued: "Our parents and pupils, in particular our younger pupils, are likely to have significant difficulty with this. Many have complete faith in the education, care and overall ethos that The Avenue provides. Some of these children have known nothing else and change could have adverse consequences. Some parents have

agonised over sending pupils to The Avenue but in most cases have seen their children thrive and develop.

"Their anxieties about this being taken away are quite understandable."

He also said many staff had expressed concerns over their jobs.

Cllr Sutton told the Evening Post he believed many of Mr Sparks's concerns were valid.

He said: "Mr Sparks is saying it is really important we get this consultation right, and he is absolutely right. I said at the meeting that if it took longer than that to make the process work then we would let it run longer.

"The timetable is indicative as to what would be possible. The interests of the children come first and the timetable would work around that.

But nobody knows how the parents and children will respond over a four-year-timetable. I don't think it is very safe to make predictions. There is plenty of time for parents to express their views."

Cllr Sutton stressed no decisions had been made although the school was unlikely to remain on its present site, because consultants said its ageing

facilities and high slopes were unsuitable for many of the physically disabled pupils.

He said: "We have difficult discussions and ultimately a difficult decision to arrive at."